Card-shuffler.



O. T. HALL.

CARD SHUPFLER.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.1,1909.

Patented Jan. 9; 1912 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 link gl/z/l/ll/l/ 144 f O. T. HALL.

. CARD SHUPFLER.

APPLICATION FILED 11017.1,1909.

1,014,219. 1 Patented Jan. 9, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT; OFFICE.

CHARLES '1. HALL, OF BUFFALO, NEW YQRK, ASSIGN 'OR OF ONE-HALF TO EDWARD J. SMITH, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

OABD-SHUFFLER.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 9, 1912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES T. HALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Card-Shufllers, of which the following is a specification. i

This invention relates to a machine for shufiiing playing cards preparatory to dealing the same out to the several players of a game.

The object of this invention is to produce a simple, efficient and inexpensive machine for this purpose whereby a deck or pack of cards can be quickly and thoroughly shuflled and rendering it impossible for any one in a game to know what cards another player is holding and particularly preventing any player from pre-arranging the cards in a deck and playing unfairly.

In the accompanying drawings consisting of 2 sheets: Figure l is a vertical longitudinal section of my improved card shuttling machine. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same, partly in section. Figs. 3, and 4 are horizontal sections taken in line 34, Fig. 1 and looking upwardly and downwardly, respectively. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken in line 55, Fig. 1, looking upwardly.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

The inclosing ca sing or frame which re-v ceives and supports the principal working parts of the machine may be variously con structed, but as shown in the drawings the same comprises a main rear section A adapted to rest upon a table or support and an n per front section A which is arranged in front of the upper part of the rear section.

B represents a pile feeding table or follower upon the front side of which the flat side of the stack or pack of playing cards 6 to be shuttled i s supported the same being preferably arranged in an-inclined position with its lower or front end in advance of its upper or rear end. This follower is preferably located in the upper part of the easing below an opening 0 1n the top of the casing through which the cards to be shuflled are introduced into the casing and placed upon the front side of the follower. The latter is preferably guided so as to be movable in a horizontal plane by means of a I horizontal guide rod E guided in a horizontal -guideway d formed on a stationary bracket E in rear of the follower, said guide rod being connected at its front end with the rear side of the follower in any suitable manner. The cards are fed off successively from the front side of the stack or deck and as this 7 feeding operation progresses thefollower is advanced so as to compensate for the;cards which have been removed and always maintain the top or front side of the deck in proper relation to the feeding ofi' mechanism. The means for thus advancing the follower to keep pace with the cards which have been removed comprises a screw threaded adjusting rod F secured to the rear end of the guide rod E, a cross bar f mounted on the adjusting rod between two screw nuts f on the latter and two springs 9 connecting the opposite ends of the cross bar with the rear side of the bracket E and operating to press. the follower and connecting parts constantly forward toward the feeding off mechanism. By turning the adjusting nuts f forwardor backward the tension on the springs 9 may be regulated as may be necessary to cause the follower to advance properly to take up the space of the cards which have been removed from the front of the deck. The rearward movement of Qthe follower preparatory to placing adeck of cards in front of the same may be effected by various means but preferably by means of a transverse shifting lever G arranged within the upper part of the casing in rear of the follower and pivoted at one end to one of the side walls of the casing while its opposite end passes through an opening 9 in the casing and the intermediate portion thereof being connected by means of a link g with the rear end of the adjusting rod F. Upon pushing the free end of the lever G which Whildthecards are supported by the follower the front ends or edges of the same, with the exception of the uppermost or foremost card engage with a front or lower stop wall or gate H which prevents feeding off more than one card at a time from the pile.

zontally and parallel with the direction of movement of the follower, whereby the faces of the follower and of the stop wall are arranged at an obtuse angle relatively to each other which permits the deck of cards to be advanced more easily inasmuch as they have a natural tendency to slide by their 'own weight forwardly on the stop wall and thus permit of using a comparatively light spring pressure for advancing the follower and deck of cards, which pressure issubstantially uniform in the" different positions of the follower and enables the feeding off de-, vice to operate uniformly upon the deck regardlessof the number of cards in the same. For the purpose of enabling the stop wall to. be adjusted horizontally so that its front edge is arranged below the surface of the deck a distance equal to the thickness of one card, this-stop wall is guided at its opposite ends in horizontal Ways h formed on the inner sides of the inclosing casing or frame and the same is shifted in these ways by means of adjusting screws h mounted on the lower rear part of the bracket E and engaging with the rear edge of the stop wall, as'shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

Various means maybe provided for feeding the cards successively forward from the top of the deck, the-means for this purpose having been found satisfactory in this practice and comprising a vertically rotatable cam wheel I arranged in front of thecen tral part of the deck and provided on its-pe riphery' with a facing of rubber z'iwhich is adapted to engage with the-front side of the deck. T his feeding wheel has a concentric 'high part 2' and a tangential low part- '6 connecting the ends of the high part and is mounted upon a horizontal shaft J which is journaled transversely in hearings on the adjacent part of the frame and is rotated 'inthe direction 'of the arrow 1 in Fig. 1, by

, means of a hand crank j applied to the end feed wheel presented toi-the face of the 'of this shaft outside of this casing, as shown in Fig. for by any other suitable means. During each rotation of the feed wheel its high part upon engaging with the foremost card in thedeck pushes the same by 'frictional contact therewith forwardly or downwardly from the deck and over the front edge of the front stop wall, this feeding action being relaxed when the low part of the f deck. After each card is removed from the j deck the follower "advances in -the same measure and brings the next following card.

. 'p'ile. This stop wall is preferably arranged hor1- which is now uppermost on the deck into operative relation to, the feeding wheel so that during the continued operationnof the feeding wheel the cards are, fed successively forwardly or downwardly from the deck or As each card is fed off from the top of the deck the same passes between a air of delivery rollers or wheels K, L which are arranged respectively below and above the path of the cards in front of the stop wall. The lower delivery wheel or roller K is comparatively large in diameter and is of a length equal to the width of the cards while the upper delivery wheel or roller L is -is turned in the direction of the arrow 2 Fig. 1 by means of a large gear wheel k secured to the feeding shaft J and meshing with a small gear wheel 70 on the shaft is of the lower roller, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The upper delivery roller L is preferably driven by frictional contact with the lower delivery roller K and is mounted .on a horizontal transverse shaft l which is j ournaled at its opposite ends in bearings Z Z which are carried by two longitudinal flator leaf springs Z secured to the adjacent stationary part of the frame. These springs hold the upper delivery roller yieldingly in contact .with the lower delivery roller and permit" the upper roller to yield as may be necesof the cards which enter between the same and the lower delivery roller, thereby insuring a firm grip of these rollers upon the cards and at the same time causing'the cards to move freely between the delivery rollers without -injuring or marring the same.

As the cards issue forwardly or downwardly from the delivery rollers the same are received by a mixing device orshufliing mechanism which is arranged immediately below or in front of the receiving rollers 'sary for adapting the same to the thickness and which operates to arrange the-cards in a difierent position relatively to each other from that which they occupied on the deck before delivering the same through'a' delivery opening m in the lower part of the upper front section of the casing and deposit, I

ing the same in a gatherin receptacle M which is arranged below the elivery opening livery rollers.

and from which the cards in their shufiied condition are removed by the player preparatory to distributing them among therollers is controlled and the cards aregathered in a diflerent order from that which they occupied on the follower and before being delivered to the receptacle M. This switch comprises 'two vertical side walls n and upper, intermediate and lower transverse plates or boards a, 91?, a connecting the side walls so as to form an upper longitudinal chute 0 between the top and intermediate plates 11 11?, an intermediate chute 0 between the intermediate and lower plates 011*, n and a lower chute 0 between the lower plate 91, of the switch and the stationary board or table N. At its front end the switch is pivoted by pins 0 or otherwise on the adjacent stationary part of the frame so as to be capable of swinging in a vertical plane and cause one or the other of saidchutes to bring its mouth or inlet end at the rear end thereof in line with the path of the cards as they issue from between the de- When the switch is in its central posit-ion, as shown in Fig. 1, the mouth of the intermediate or central chute o is in line with the path of the cards issu-= ing from the delivery rollers in which position the cards would be delivered by .said rollers into this chute. Upon shifting the rear part of the switch upwardly so that the front edge of its lowermost plate a is above the path of the cards,-the latter will be delivered by the rollers K, L into the lowermost chute or pocket -0 while upon lowering the switch at its rear end, so that the front edge of the intermediate plate 11- is below the path of the cards, the latter upon leaving the delivery rollers will enter the uppermost chute or pocket 0. The switch oscillates in this manner while the machine is in operation, so that the cards are delivered into one or the other of 'the chutesand this movement of the switch may be effected by various means, the means for this purpose shown in the drawings being suitable and consist-ing of a crank shaft P journaled transversely on the rear part of the frame and having its crank p connected by a bifurcated or forked connecting rod p with the free end of the switch, and a belt Q, passing same.

around rollers or pulleys g, g on the feed wheel shaft and the crank shaft, respectively.

In the construction of the machine shown in the drawings, those cards which are delivered into the central chute of the shufliing mechanism pass by gravity through this chute without interruption and are gathered in the same order in the receptacle below the Some of the cards which are delivered into the lower and upper chutes are, however, retained within these chutes and caused to gather successively therein while one-or 'the other of these chutes. isin a position to receive cards from the delivery rollers, the cards thus gathered in the upper or lower chutes bein permitted to escape therefrom in a body into the receptacle M. The preferred means for thus temporarily retaining and gathering some of the cards in the upper and lower chutes which are shown in the drawings are constructed as follows :-R represents a vertically swinging rock lever pivoted on the underside of the stationary bottom N of the lower chute and provided on its lower arm with a stop pin 1- adapted to move upwardly and downwardly across the outlet at the front end of the lower chute 0 while its upper arm is provided with a roller r engaglng with a rotatable cam s, The latter is mounted on a transverse shaft 8 journaled in bearings on the main frame below the stationary bottom and is rotated by means of a belt 8 passing around pulleys 8 s mounted respectively on theshaft of the lower delivery roller and the cam shaft 8 The upper arm of the lever'R is preferably hea-vler than its lower arm and its stop pin so that when the cam' presents its low face to the roller 1' .the latter will drop by gravit into engagement with the low face thereo and cause the stop face of the bottom board, so as to clear the outletof the lower chute. When the switch is so turned that the cardsare delivered into the lower chute and the stop pin 1' at its outlet is retracted therefrom the cards entering this chute will immediately pass through the same and be stacked successively in the gatheringreceptacle, but when this stop pin is projected across the outlet of the lower chute while the cards are being delivered intothe same,such cards en age at their front ends with said stop pin an are caused to gather in the lower chute until this pin or stop is withdrawn from the outlet of this chute, and when this occurs thecards so gathered in the same are discharged in a body therefrom into the athering receptacle by gra ity. The carfs are in like manner caused to temporarily accumulate in the. uppermost chute 0 by means of a stop pin tadapted to move into and out of position across the outlet of the upper chute, this stopper pin being operated by a vertically swinging rock lever T pivoted on a station ary part of the frame above the switch and carrying the upper stop pin it on its rear arm, a rotatable cam '11, engaging with a roller 'u on'the upper arm of the rock lever T, a transverse shaft t journaled on the frame and carrying the cam u, and a belt a passing around pulleys u u mounted respectively o'n.the feed wheel shaft and the cam shaft t The lower arm of the upper rock lever is suificiently heavy so that it will always tend to move this lever in the direction for shifting the upper stop pin across the outlet of the upper chute when the low face ofthe upper cam is presented .to the roller of the upper stop lever but when the high part of this cam engages with said roller the upper stop lever will be turned in the direction for shifting its stop pin forwardly away from the outlet of the upper chute. When cards are being delivered into the upper chute while the upper stop is not projecting across the outlet thereof the cards will simply pass by gravity successively through this upper chute and pile up in the gathering receptacle but when the upper stop projects across the outlet of the upper chute while cards are being delivered into the same, such cards will be accumulated in this chute and discharged therefrom by gravity in a body ,into the gathering 40 upper stop is withdrawn from the outlet of receptacle the instant the the upper chute. It will thus be seen that by means of this shufliing mechanism' the cards delivered successively from the stack on the follower are re-arranged relatively to each other in an irregular manner so that no two shufilings of'the stack 01' deck are alike, thereby rendering it impossible to 'de- 'termine in what particular order the cards are arranged in the deck after the same havebeen shufiied by the machine, thus-insuring absolute fairness to the different players to whom the cards are subsequently dealt.

The gathering receptacle which receives the cards from the shuffling mechanism may;

be variously constructed but preferably comprises an inclined bottom V arranged below the plane of the; stationary bottom N of the shufiling device and adapted to support the cards. on their flat sides and a lower or front end walla) projecting forwardly or up-' wardly from the lower or front end of the bottom and preferably at right angles thereto. As the cards issue from the shuffling device they strike with their front or advancing ends against the front wall 1) and then p le flatwise upon the bottom V. As

the cards gather upon the bottom V and front wall 0, the same are confined against lateral displacement by means of two side walls W arranged lengthwise on opposite sides of the bottom. In order to permit of removing the shufiled deck of cards easily and conveniently from this gathering receptacle the side walls l/V are mounted so that they are depressible and permit the fingers to be passed along opposite sides of the deck of cards and into engagement with the underside thereof, so that thesame can be lifted conveniently from. the bottom of the gathering receptacle. For this purpose the two side walls are pivoted at their lower fi'ont corners by pins uor otherwise, to the underside of the stationary part of the machine so that they swing vertically, the two side walls being caused to move in unison by means of cross bars a connecting the same below the bottom. The side walls are yieldingly held in their elevated or operative position by means of a spring 3 connected at one end with the underside of the bottom V while its opposite end is connected with an arm y on one of the cross bars at, the elevatin movement of the side walls being limited y the front edges of the same engaging with the face of the stationary front wall '0 of the gathering receptacle. At its upper edge near its rear end, each side wall is provided with a finger piece .2 which provides a convenient bearing for the fingers to press against when deflecting these side walls by the fingers preparatory to grasping the deck of cards on opposite sides and removing the same from the gathering receptacle. The adjacent part. of the inclos ing casing is flush with the bottom of the gathering receptacle and is notched or cut away, as'shown at 2 Figs. 2 and 5, to permit the finger pieces and fingers engaging with the same to pass ,below'the face-of said bottom. Upon removing the cards from the gathering receptacle the side walls are autom'aticallyv returned to their normal elevated position by the return spring.

I claim as my invention:

1. A. card shuffler comprising a follower adapted to support a deck of cards, a guide rod connected with said follower, an adjusting screw connected with the guiderodand provided with screw nuts, a cross bar arrod connected with said follower, an adjusting screw connected with the guide rod and provided with screw nuts, a cross bar 'flat side, a bracket on which said follower is guided, a front wall adapted to support the deck of cards at its front end and movable transversel thereto for adjusting its front edge relatively to the top of the deck and adjusting screws mounted v on said bracket and engaging with the rear edge of the front wall.

4:. A card shuffler comprising feeding means for delivering cards successively from adeck, and a mixing device comprising a plurality of chutes adapted to receive the cards from the feeding means, and means for temporarily retaining the cards in a chute.

5 A card shufller comprising feeding means for delivering cards successively. from a deck, and a-mixin'g device comprising a plurality of chutes adapted to receive the cards from the feeding means and each having an inlet at one end for the admission of the cards and an outlet for discharging the cards, and means for temporarily retaining the cards in a chute.

6. A card shufller comprisin feeding means for delivering cards successlvely from a deck, and a mixing device comprising a plurality of chutesadapted to receive the cards from the feeding means and each having an inlet at one end for the admission of the cards and an outlet for discharging the cards, and means for temporarily retaining the cards in a chute comprising a stop movable into and out of the path of the cards at the outlet of a chute.

7. A card shuflier comprising feeding means for delivering cards successively from a deck, and a mixmg device comprising a plurality of chutes adapted to receive the cards from the feeding means and each having an inlet at one end for the admission of the cards and an outlet for discharging the cards, and means for temporarily retaining the cards in a chute comprising a Stop the cards at the outlet of a chute, a lever carrying said stop, and a. cam operating said lever. I

8. A card shufller comprising feeding means for delivering cards successively from a deck, and a mixing device comprising a pivoted chute having an inlet at one end for the admission of the cards and an outlet at its opposite end for the discharge of the cards, and a stop device for temporarily obstructing the'outlet of said chute.

9. A card shuflier comprising feeding movable into and out of the path of' means for delivering cards successively from a deck, and a mixing device. comprising a pivoted chute having an inlet at one end for the admission of the cards and an outlet at its opposite end for the discharge of the cards, and means for oscillating said chute comprising a crank shaft and a connection between said chute and the crank of said shaft.

10. A card shufiler comprising feeding means for delivering cards successively from a deck, and a mixing device comprising a plurality of chutes adapted to receive the cards from the feeding means, a-stationary bottom, a pivbted switch arranged above the bottom and containing a chute and formin an additional chute between the switch an said bottom, the cards delivered by said feeding means entering one or the other of said chutes according to the position of said switch, and means for temporarily retaining the. cards in one of said chutes. Y

11. A card shuflier comprising feeding means for delivering cards successively from a deck, and a mixing device comprising a plurality of chutes adapted to receive the cards from the feeding means, a stationary bottom, a pivoted switch arranged above the bottom and containing a chute and forming an additionalchute between the switch and said bottom, the cards delivered by said feeding means entering one or the other of said chutes according to the position of said said bottom an additional chute. each of said L and means for temporarily retainlng the cards in one of said chutes while another one of said chutes remains permanently unobstructed.

14. A card shuflier comprising feeding means for delivering cards successively from a deck and a mixing device comprising a stationary bottom, a pivoted switch arranged above said bottom and containing an upper tom while the lower chute of the switch rechute and a lower chute and forming with mains permanently unobstructed. 10 said bottom an additional chute, each of said Witness my hand this 30th day of Octochutes havinnr an inlet for the admission of her, 1909. 1

cards and an outlet for discharging cards, CHARLES T. HALL. and means for temporarily retaining the Witnesses:

cards in the upper chute of the 'switch and JOHN J. SULLIVAN,

the chute between the switch and said bot- BENJAMIN KEMPNER. 

